Hello, I'm Monica Reinagel.

Thanks so much for tuning in to the Nutrition Diva Podcast.

Many of you have asked for an episode on foods and herbs that can increase breast milk supply.

This is something that a lot of new moms worry about.

In fact, it's the primary reason that women give for stopping breastfeeding.

Unfortunately, this worry or the perception that the milk supply is inadequate may be a lot more common than the actual problem.

Nonetheless, this concern leads a lot of women to look for things that might help increase their milk

production and of course they will quickly find lots of things on the internet

but is there any evidence to support these things that are traditionally claimed to help?

How about some of these supplements that are specifically formulated to increase breast milk production?

Well, first, we need to clear up a couple of myths.

Number one, rest assured that breast size does not affect milk production.

So if you have small breasts and you're nursing, there's no need to worry. You are able to produce plenty of

milk for your baby. And speaking of baby, a lot actually depends on the baby. Milk synthesis is related to how vigorously the infant nurses, how much time the infant spends nursing, and how many times per day the infant nurses.

In other words, if you have a baby that spends several hours a day nursing and drinks a lot of milk,

you will probably produce more milk.

Conversely, a baby that only nurses for a couple of minutes a few times a day and doesn't drink a lot of milk

won't stimulate a lot of milk production in the mother. And finally you should know

that drinking a ton of water will not increase your milk supply. Now if you're severely dehydrated

that could impact the amount of milk you're able to produce. But drinking fluids

above and beyond just what it takes to quench your thirst is not going to help you

produce more milk. So much for the myths, but is there anything that you can eat or

...